Here I am being clever with Danielle Moser.
Absence of Paper
For years I carried a little paper notebook (usually Field Notes) in my pocket along with my iPhone. I don’t do that much anymore. At the day job I still carry a pen and notecards in my breast pocket—which are useful for sharing—but after hours I’m no longer with paper. This shift wasn’t intentional but instead a gradual thing as I became more smitten with Drafts. It just isn’t that much more difficult for me to tap a quick note into Drafts and carrying less always feels better.
If you are on the fence about this, the gang at DODO just released an interesting notebook with a sort-of iPhone nest built in called DODONotes. A year ago I would have probably tried one but right now, I’m good.
Wordify for Fun
Over the weekend I bought a copy of Wordify from the Mac App Store. Wordify takes an existing picture and a stack of words about that picture and then outputs a PDF that recreates the picture with your words. I made one of my daughter and her cousin and I thought it came out great.
The New York Times was doing something similar to this at Macworld/iWorld and people were lined up around the booth. My wife and kids are really into this.
Hacking The Onion
I found this article about the Syrian Electronic Army hacking The Onion fascinating. They pulled it off with phishing. In particular, they embedded malicious links in friendly sounding email. Once they got a few people to bite, they used those compromised email accounts to double down and phish more employees using their friends’ emails. This really makes me question the use of embedded links in email. They are so convenient but also so easy to abuse.
There are some tools in Apple mail to expose a link before opening it. Regardless, be careful out there. (Link found via John Gruber).
MPU 137: Workflows with Aisha Tyler
This week’s MPU episode is up and ready for download. In it we interview Aisha Tyler, a television and movie actress, self-made director, geek, and all around “Art Shark”. This is a really fun episode. Make sure to check it out.
Automated Icon Extractor
Ben Waldie, who is, in my opinion, probably the most savvy AppleScript author not actually working for Apple recently published a script on TUAW that automatically extracts an icon from an application. I created a similar service using scripts I learned from Sal Saghoian’s AppleScript 1-2-3 book a few years ago but Ben’s solution is much better. I’ve added it to my script menu and if you ever have need of app icons, you should too.
1Password for iOS 4.2
Agile just released 1Password 4.2 for iOS and it is a really nice update:
Better Browser
Go & Fill Bookmarks are now in 1Browser on iPad. (The iPhone is coming.) Also, if 1Password sees a URL in the clipboard, it’ll prompt you to open it in the 1Password browser.
Better Sharing
You can share 1Password vault items (encrypted) with others. This will make things much easier between myself and MrsMacSparky.
Better Search
Search in iOS 1Password now searches all fields.
Mac Power Users Site Update
The Mac Power Users website just got a long overdue overhaul. John Chandler is the brains behind the re-design and Katie and I are both really happy with the way it came out. You can now search for old shows easier than ever.
Lego Mac
I recently got this awesome Classic Mac lego set from Chris McVeigh. There is a standing joke in my house. The kids get Lego, dad begs to help, dad gets denied. Not this time. The kit even includes a clever Lego logic board. I love having this on my desk
The Productivityist Workbook
Mike Vardy has some really nice resources at the Productivityist website. Most recently Mike has pre-released his Productivityist Workbook. The idea is simple solutions to make you more efficient. I’ve read Mike’s work before and I’m sure it is going to be great.